The uniquely beautiful foliage and easy-to-keep nature of Echeveria succulents make them get some real admiration. Most of these go pretty well for both indoor and outdoor plantations. We are introducing another attractive one, the Echeveria agavoides.
This is a small to medium-sized, stem-less rosette-forming plant. It grows olive-green thick succulent leaves with pointed edges and reddish margins. The plant has several variants that only differ in the color or sometimes the size of the foliage.
These Mexican native succulents make nice choices for small pots, container gardens, rock gardens, and filler. Moreover, these are no-fuss plants and happy enough with typical Echeveria Care.
Want to know more? Keep reading to enjoy an informative guide about the care and propagation of the Agavoides Succulent and its popular variants.
Echeveria agavoides Classification
Family: Crassulaceae
Genus: Echeveria
Species: E. agavoides
Genus Echeveria:
This native to Central America was named to honor the famous botanical artist Atanasio Echeveria y Godoy. Around 150 flowering plant species are famous for their beauty and easy-to-care nature.
This makes them preferred for both indoor and outdoor plantations. Moreover, they are winners of the famous American horticulture award.
Features of Echeveria agavoides Plant
Size:
“How big does an Echeveria agavoides get?” is a common question. This plant and its variants are found in different sizes. The maximum size attained depends upon different factors like space available, nutrition provided, and sunlight available during the initial period. As a general assumption, bigger spaces are good care may lead to bigger rosettes.
A mature rosette can get anywhere between 3 to 24 inches tall with a similar width. These plants are generally solitary. Howbeit, the mature ones grow offsets that can be separated for propagation.
Leaves:
The leaves are about two to three inches at maximum length.
Flower:
Expect flowers in red to pink blooming in spring and summer. These are typical Echeveria flowers growing on long stalks.
Toxicity:
This genus is generally known to be safe for humans and animals. However, it is prudent advice to avoid kids and pets mingling with the plants. Also, make sure you contact emergency medical aid in case of incidents like ingestion.
Echeveria agavoides Lipstick
This is the main variant with green petals and reddish borders. These reddish borders give a bright tone to the plant and make it popularly known as the Lipstick Agavoides.
Echeveria agavoides Romeo
This is another popular and one of the most beautiful Agavoides. The petals are bright burgundy and look nothing lesser than absolutely stunning.
This one too needs bright sun. Otherwise, the bright peep will turn pale with loose petals.
Echeveria agavoides Care
These easy peeps stay happy with the common Echeveria Care. Also, all of the Agavoides variants come with a similar nature and basic requirements. Let us have a detailed look and learn about “How do you take care of an Echeveria agavoides?”
Quick Guide:
Water: Infrequent (after the soil gets dry)
Sun: Full Sun to Partial shade
Humidity: Average
Fertilizer: Monthly dose in spring and summer
Watering Requirement
The Soak and dry method works perfectly fine to treat the Echeveria Agavoides. Just soak the soil and let it get dry before watering again. Once the soil gets dry, you can wait for a few more days to soak it again.
The new peeps are better with a proper schedule. Howbeit, once they get established, you can even keep them in a mini drought and still find them happy. Three to five weeks is a good time they can go without water even in the summer days.
The watering frequency of the plant varies with external factors like temperature, humidity, and sunlight. Brighter sun and higher temperatures increase the watering requirement of the soil. According to an estimate, once to thrice a week is a good frequency for spring and summer.
Coming towards winter, the plant dormancy reduces the water requirements. Also, the soil takes longer to get dry. So, watering the plant once a month is enough to keep them alive. Anything excess will be counted as over-watering which is very harmful in all seasons.
Important Instructions:
Plant standing in soggy and wet soil can attract issues like fungal attacks and root rots. So, make sure you strictly avoid over-watering and don’t water unless the soil gets dry.
Rosettes are prone to become pest heavens due to standing water at the internal base. Hence, water the soil only and not the rosette body.
Another important factor is the temperature of the water. It should be lukewarm, especially in winter. Coldwater can freeze the roots which are very harmful to the health of the plant.
Light Requirements
Full sun to bright shade is what these plants love to stay in. Ideally, the plant must get at least 6 hours of full sun. However, if you don’t find a suitable spot, they will be happy in some well-lit shade also. The indoor peeps are best to stand in some bright windowsill, which is an ideal indoor spot for these plants.
Adequate light is very important for all the Agavoides else you will see them getting pale and shaggy.
Soil requirement
Quick draining and chunky soils are a basic requirement for these plants. You can use a common cactus or a succulent mix for indoor plantations. A Mixture of different materials like peat, perlite, cactus mix, and common soil also works well.
Temperature Requirement
Agavoides and their variants have poor tolerance for cold and frost. A temperature below 20 F can freeze and even kill your echeveria agavoides plant. So people living in colder zones should prefer planting them in containers. This way they can easily bring them indoors before the weather gets fierce.
A comfortable temperature for us is good for the plant also. To be precise, a temperature range for almost all the Echeverias is between 55 to 80 F.
Humidity Requirement
The thick and fleshy leaves of the succulents have a good moisture-retaining property. They go pretty well in the average humidity of our region.
However, the heating systems can be a little problematic for indoor plants. They eat up the necessary moisture and can cause dryness for you and your plant. So, the plant may need a little help on dry days. You can simply use a room humidifier to provide adequate moisture.
Fertilization requirement
Fertilizers show good results in form of health and the growing speed of the plant. The basic rule is to use a good quality fertilizer once a month in spring and summer only.
The fertilization frequency varies with the type of fertilizer used. For example, some slow-release fertilizers are just meant to be used twice or thrice a year and never more.
You can also use common house plant fertilizers in low concentrations, preferably half of the stated dose.
Over-fertilization is highly dangerous and even fatal for the plant. Higher doses can scorch out the foliage which in severe cases causes irreparable damage to the plant’s life. So, make sure you are never using concentrated dosages.
Dormant plants in winter have minimal nutritional requirements. Fertilization at this stage is strictly prohibited. Experts advise stopping fertilizing right after the end of the summer.
Maintenance Requirement
Rosette forming succulents do not need frequent pruning. Howbeit, you can simply remove the old and dead leaves to give a fresh look and better health to the plant.
Growth Zone
The suitable growth zone of the plant is 9a(minimum 20 F).
Echeveria agavoides Propagation
Just like other succulents, these too are easy-to-propagate plants. Common methods of propagation are leaf-cuttings and offsets and not the seeds.
- Propagation through leaf-cuttings
- Propagation through division.
Season:
Middle of the spring up till the middle of the summer is the ideal time for plant propagation.
Propagation through leaf-cuttings:
This is a popular and easy method to make some new succulents.
- Just take a few healthy leaves from the plant. You can simply twitch them out from the plant without damaging the rosette. Now, allow them to form callous by staying at some safe place for a few days.
- Place these leaf-cuttings on a moist well-draining growing mixture. Water the soil mildly after it gets dry. Alternatively, you can cover the pot with a lid that allows the air to pass through tiny holes. This will help to conserve the moisture and you can leave the setup with watering for a few weeks.
- Baby roots will protrude out from the stem-cuttings in a period of about three to seven weeks. You can finally take them out and plant these at some suitable place. Just make sure you are gentle enough not to destroy the baby roots.
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Summary
Echeveria agavoides is a famous succulent. It has thick green petals which grow compact to form a small to medium size succulent. This plant is a parent to many other variants with minor differences in size and color. Echeveria agavoides lipstick and Echeveria agavoides Romeo are among the top two ones.
All of these plants are easy to care for. Full sun to partial shade, infrequent watering, and well-draining soil are the basic requirements. Seasonal fertilization is also helpful while you make sure to avoid over-fertilization. Another thing to avoid is over-watering. It can harm and even rot the plant to death.
